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Summit Public Art:
SPRING 2023
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Public art has the power to transform a community
and inspire us to see the world in new ways.
—Kirk Smiley
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Greetings from Summit Public Art! Our mission is to enrich and inspire our community by bringing art to public spaces in Summit. We hope you'll find something here to pique your interest and help you see the art around town with fresh eyes.
Over the last few months, we've been working hard to deliver a new season of exciting public art to our community. Look for a host of new artworks to be installed on the Village Green in the coming weeks and months, including one that should definitely make a big impression!
Also look for the return of our popular guided Art Tours of all the new and ongoing installations around town as well as the return of our RAMP Up artist mentor program at Summit High School later this fall.
As we begin a new season, we're pleased to welcome two new members to our SPA board. Please join us in extending a warm welcome to Michael Seum and Jaclyn Lasaracina.
Through public art, we strive to add to the cultural vitality of our town and expand our sense of community pride. We are truly thankful to live in a town that embraces artists and their work and responds so positively to public art!
Above: Ray King's Star & Spheres at City Hall.
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SPA Awarded $9k Grant for 2023 Season
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Summit Public Art is pleased to announce that we have been awarded a Union County LAP Grant for our 2023 season. This generous $9,000 grant will help offset costs that SPA incurs in operating several programs that serve our Summit community.
"Union County’s Local Arts grant program helps the organizations in our community sustain their operations and continue to bring high-quality programming to our residents," said Commissioner Chair Rebecca L. Williams, "and it also enables other organizations to provide arts programming."
Many thanks to the Union County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, for this much-needed funding!
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And, of course, a very big thanks to all of our supporters and to the many generous donors who have kept us going these past two decades.
As a 100% volunteer-run, donor-funded nonprofit, we rely on the generosity of friends and neighbors just like you to provide the public art and community projects that you, your families, and visitors to our town enjoy each day.
We know that the last few years have been especially challenging for all of us, which is why we greatly appreciate any contribution you might be able to provide. No amount is too small!
If you would like to help us continue to enrich and inspire our community through public art, please click on the button below:
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We're only a few months into 2023, but it's already been a notable year for many of our SPA artists! | |
Emil Alzamora exhibited his sculpture at London's Pontone Gallery in a show titled Through the Mind's Eye, a portfolio exhibition of four gallery artists who demonstrate a variety of approaches to contemporary figurative painting and sculpture. (To view a video clip from the exhibition, click here.)
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Nancy Cohen participated in the collaborative exhibit Once She Dries at SMUSH Gallery in the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City. A collaboration between six artists across four countries, the piece unfolds as a looped recording, featuring projected text, vocals, piano, violin, and video projections that cycle every half hour. Cohen’s own handmade designs surround the viewer via hanging paper sculptures that evoke images of coral, clouds, and the sea. Art Spiel praised Cohen's 42-foot long, handmade paper construction, calling it "as mesmerizing as the landscape it depicts." (To view images from Once She Dries, click here.)
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Willie Cole was the subject of an article in The New York Times about his new installation “Spirit Catcher and Lumen-less Lantern," two chandelier-like works assembled from more than 3,000 used plastic bottles at Express Newark, the center for socially-engaged art and design affiliated with Rutgers University in Newark, where Cole is an artist in residence. The Times reports that more of Cole's bottle installations will soon debut as part of a new public art commission along Manhattan's Park Avenue this June. (To read the full Times article on Willie Cole, click here.)
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Donna Conklin King was featured in an episode of the series ArtNation on the Smithsonian Channel. Filmed on location at King's studio in East Orange's Manufacturers Village, the segment included an interview with the artist discussing her sculpture Cave Painting, a large-scale installation that can currently be seen here in Summit on the Village Green. (To view a clip of King discussing Cave Painting, click here.)
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Ray King was interviewed on Philadelphia's PBS program Movers & Makers about his work PhiLux: Love of Light, an illuminated glass installation at Philly's 15th Street subway station. Based in Stockton, NJ, King was recently awarded a 2023 Sculpture Fellowship by the New Jersey Council on the Arts. (To view a clip of King discussing PhiLux, click here.
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See Willie Cole's
Woman in Heels
Modeled entirely from previously-worn shoes, this figurative bronze demonstrates Cole's fondness for taking ordinary objects and recasting them in a “tribal narrative.” Now on view at the Village Green across from the Summit train station.
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See Nancy Cohen's
Your Water, My Sky
An investigation into place and our experience of it, each image from these nine colorful banners comes from the artist's personal experience of waterways impacted by climate change. Now on view at the Village Green across from the Summit post office.
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See Donna Conklin King's
Cave Painting
This mural of clouds and sky explores the possibilities of concrete as a medium while addressing the relationship between nature, architecture, and the inevitable ruins of civilization.
Now on view at the Village Green near the intersection of Broad Street and Elm Street.
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See Ray King's
Pleiades
Installed to mark the 50th anniversary of the Promenade Fountain, this dynamic glass sculpture both reflects and projects an ever-changing array of light and colors. Now on view downtown at the Promenade Fountain at 426 Springfield Avenue.
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See Emil Alzamora's
Time Travelers
These six life-size figures appear to be visiting and observing our world from another dimension or another period in time, most likely the future. Watching them watch us, we begin to see the world as they do: as a whole new universe to be explored. Now on view downtown at Lyric Pocket Park, the Summit Promenade, and Kaus Way.
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Join us on Friday, September 22nd as we celebrate more than two decades of bringing public art to our Summit community!
More details to come . . . .
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Head downtown and take a self-guided tour of all the new and exciting public art on display here in Summit!
This season offers several must-see works by a host of internationally-acclaimed artists. And, as always, our open-air gallery remains free and open to families and art lovers of all ages. Just bring along this handy guide and come see for yourself why Summit has earned a reputation for being one of New Jersey’s premier destinations for world-class public art!
Download your guide to the current season here.
For a preview our latest public artworks,
click the video below:
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Join Emil Alzamora's Time Travelers on a journey through time and space (and New Jersey)! | Discover the surprising inspiration behind Donna Conklin King's intriguing sculpture Cave Painting. | Catch all the latest videos on our YouTube channel SPA TV, showcasing the wide range of public artworks on display throughout town. In addition to a series of music-video shorts devoted to each work, you’ll also find new video retrospectives on SPA’s 20 year history as well as HTTV’s recent documentary “The Wonderful World of Public Art,” which offers an illuminating behind-the-scenes look at Summit Public Art. | |
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follow us on Instagram or Facebook
@summitpublicart
or by clicking the links below:
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From our followers:
“Truly one of the best perks of living in Summit is
the public art displayed. Thank you and looking
forward to the next installation!”
“The artists and work you support
@summitpublicart is soul lifting!”
“Go Summit Public Art! I so enjoy all of your selections
and really look forward to seeing what pops up next.”
“Amazing & brilliant works of art! Love them all!”
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